Brave New World
by Carl Marx
Summary: Its the start of a new world , Sookie just is not sure if she wants to see it .
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings all **

**Here is the opener to my new fan fiction , it's an idea I had a while back and wanted to finally make a start on it . Some of you may know me from my other work in Progress '' Handle with Care''**

**I fancied a change of pace so here it , please review if you like or even if you don't , any feedback is welcome as long as its constructive **

**I do not own True Blood or Southern Vampire mystery's , I make no profit from this work and is done solely for enjoyment , hopefully for my readers as well as myself**

**Thank you **

The world changed forever on the 28th August 2015 , but in the interconnected cyber enhanced multi lingual existence mankind was living in , nobody really noticed . Not at first

I can't recall exactly when I first heard the words '' Gundown Virus '' , the name was an American bastardisation of the Chinese province where the disease first took hold , ''Guangdong Province '' as the natives of that nation called it , most Europeans and especially the denizens of north America could never really hope to get there tongues around this , so Guangdong , became , Gundown . The non to subtle connotation with '' Gunned Down '' were also a mental barb that ensured the term stuck .

At first it was simply another SARS or Swine flu , a repeat of the teeth gnashing carried out over Avian flu , or Thai red river fever , something for the media to whip into a whirlwind and the pharmaceutical companies to wet their collective pants in anticipation of a bumper quarterly report .

And that's pretty much how I saw it , I was a waitress in a backwater town working a dead end job in a economically depressed state , in these great united states .

What could I offer other than a quick prayer , a cluck of my tongue and a shake of my head , '' Oh those poor souls '' as gran would have said .

I saw the nightly news when working the late shift at the bar , we all did , 3D digitally rendered colour corrected high tech looking maps were plastered on the screen , time lapse animation showed red zones leaking into green , one after the other , China , Russia , Ukraine , Germany .

But these were still just words to me , names of places I had only ever seen in text books and on globes , places I had never been to and had made my piece with the fact that I never would a long time ago , no world travel package for uneducated lower middle class service personal on the web , I should know I had taken the time to check .

The figures as well failed to really bring anything home , have you ever seen a million in numerals , or two million , all those zeroes just sort of trip over one another until you may as well be looking at the final tally of the weekly grocery shop as it flashed up on the register , which by the way was a far more immediate and pressing concern for me at the time god forgive me .

We have everything in hand , that was the unrelenting battle cry of our duly elected and trusted government , an endless stream of CDC ( Center for Disease Control ) experts were trotted out for the camera to explain in nice calm layman's terms why we were safe , the surgeon general himself appeared on an almost nightly basis to debunk the latest rumour from Europe or Asia , the panics , the funeral pyres , the endless pits of the dead , all were put pains to and we were all more than happy to believe , a child never questions its parent when they are told there is no monster in the closet , there just happy to know it's been investigated and the all clear given .

That's what we were then , children

For the man's man the red neck bible bashers with their red white and blue pick-up trucks , gun racks and '' From my cold dead hand '' bumper stickers , who perhaps didn't quite trust the suited doctors and white lab coated academics , the cameras showed a sight that every true blooded American could get behind .

Majestic battle ships with impossibly large guns prowled our territorial waters , jets so sleek and fast streaked overhead , deadly armament nestled under there swept back wings , an endless marching procession of fully armed , fully trained , combat hardened troops ready to fight and to die for mom and apple pie '' Praise Jesus and pass the ammunition ! '' .

The small fact that the enemy was a germ so small it could not been seen with the naked eye didn't seem to matter to them , military might and the overwhelming confidence in our strategic capabilities was the opiate of the masses , for the last hundred years we as a country had kicked ass and taken names , why should this be any different ? .

Like I said I couldn't exactly recall when I first heard the term '' Gundown'' , or the first time I heard about this new supposed super virus , but I remember in every detail when it finally struck home for me , for most of us actually .

I had been pulling a double shift at the bar that night , Sam always turned to me in a pinch , I never turned him down as hey , I had bills to pay , after gran died I had the upkeep on the house to bear all on my own , and as sad and pathetic as it was I liked that Sam thought so highly of me , he knew I was good at what I did and in the small pond I was fishing that was cause for pride .

And he was my friend

Jane Bodhouse was slugging back the whiskey sours like she thought the drink was going to evaporate in her glass , Sherriff Dearborn was trying to fit as much of a chilli cheese burger that anatomy would allow into his mouth , thick dollops of sauce hitting his plaid brown troopers shirt , muttered curses and frantic mopping with a far too thin napkin .

As I said , every detail

A news bulletin interrupted some piece of rubbish action flick that the summer time hunters and weekend Rambo's just loved to watch as they swilled beer after beer , Sam indulged them as they put greenbacks in the till and that in turn put food on my table so as long as they kept there wandering hands to themselves , we let the babies have their bottle .

The hero had just been jumping out of a crashing helicopter firing an improbably large gun while a blond starlet with equally improbably large breasts clung to him for dear life and screamed , to me it seemed she did little else but I don't think I was the target demographic , if I wanted to see a blond with large tits I just had to stand in front of the mirror , for Tray , Bubba and Cletus , three of the regular potbellied , check shirt wearing gator poachers who frequented the bar , this was probably the closet they got , well besides me anyway , and I wasn't offering anything other than service with a smile .

The public announcement screen flashed up , it was a familiar sight to us now , it normally happened when the outbreak moved into new territory , the last time it had been England , that little island that had thought its self safe from the oncoming pestilence due to its natural defence of almost a mile and a half of stormy , frigid sea , they had been wrong , very wrong and had been paying the price for that arrogance for a while now . I remember when the Queen of England and half the royal family had contacted the virus , the UK press was in an uproar , that seemed so strange to me , half the country sick and dying , the army barely able to clear away the dead fast enough , but one old lady grabbing all the headlines ? . Maybe you had to be English to get it , like cricket , of jokes about the weather .

A sweaty pallid looking anchor man appeared , as he began to speak the screen cut to a sight we had seen all too often in the last few months , but as the camera pulled back , the man's words faded out , he could have been saying anything and I wouldn't have heard him , I think it was the same for everybody in the bar that night , pool balls had stopped clacking , tongues had stopped wagging , even Jane bodhouse stopped drinking , that last one would have on any day been a sign that something truly significant was going on .

I had never understood why the European and Asian authority's had picked bright red for their body bags , to me it just seemed to scream '' Hey look over here , there's a dead body '' , but I guess it was for some scientific reason that my barmaids brain had simply not been made to understand .

As it turns out , even when they are Green , the message is the same

Bag after bag was being carried out by what looked like astronauts , gas masks and rubber suits , huge hoods of clear polythene .

But this wasn't in some city or town whose name I would show my lack of education by hideously mispronouncing , it wasn't in a country I would never visit where they spoke a language I would never understand , it was here

It was New York .

Times square could be seen clear as day in the background , the high rise apartment that was now being encased in thick plastic sheeting dropped from its roof like a giant packed lunch .

Throngs of people gathered and gawped and photographed and pointed and did whatever else they felt like was appropriate , I agreed with the ones who were praying . But think about that , somebody shouts killer virus and everyone runs to see what going on ? . Maybe that right there is a small insight into the fatalistic tendency of mankind , cultured , technologically advanced lemmings charging with single purpose towards the horizon , safe in the knowledge that the person in front must know where were going , what we're doing .

And that's how it came home for all of us from then one , gone were the maps of the world , we didn't care about them anymore , even the country's that had quite literally gone dark , with no word on what the hell was going on there anymore made the news , now the only map we cared about was the map of the good old US of A .

The daily news reports took on a new heightened frenzy after that day , when the men in white lab coats gave their opinion or talked about some new treatment or plan , they didn't do it like they had before , like they were discussing the best way to control climate change , of restart the US economy

They now had '' The Look '' in their eyes , we could all spot it because we were seeing it more and more every day , in everyone around us .

One Monday morning I was in the Wal-Mart just off Shreveport route 96 , I had taken the radio at its word and decided to up my dried and canned goods store , that morning I cleaned out every penny of my meagre savings from the bank , that day I turned $716.87 into food , bottled water and a few other bare essentials , as I was paying and finishing loading up my trolley the women next in line , coughed , that was it , no big spurt of blood , or juddering convolution , she just coughed , an elderly lady by the looks of her , I'd say about sixty years odd . She swayed on her feet a little and then regained her balance , but that was all it took .

Slowly , like a stop motion explosion the crowd around the checkout moved away from the epicentre of this little old A bomb , whispers then raised voices and then a shout '' GUNDOWN ''

It was as if somebody had fired the starting pistol to the greatest race on earth

I am not for one moment exaggerating when I say I barely made it out of there alive

Thirteen people lost theirs that day , the resulting crush and stampede injured three times as many more , I heard later that the little old lady had survived , she had a cold , that's all , a plain old chicken soup cold . I would say what a waste but what followed in the weeks and months to come well and truly moved the goal posts to how I looked at the world .

I knew then that things were truly falling apart , if one tiny pebble like that old lady tossed into the puddle of a single Wal-Mart , one of literally hundreds across America , what would happen when someone tossed a fucking boulder into the great lake that was our nation .

I didn't have to wait very long to get my answer .

While all this hell was going on , the body bags ,the quarantine , the CDC '' Hot Zones '' the endless shift of red into green , I never for a minute asked myself

I wonder about the Vampires ? .

I like the rest of the planet three years previously had been caught up in the seemingly world changing announcement '' We are real and we are among you ''

I had watched as the pretty blond lady had sat calm and serene in the television studio , looking to the whole of the country like nothing more than another soccer mom dressed up for job interview , the kind of women you would have passed in the street a hundred times that week and never looked twice , but then she sprouted fangs

News interviews , magazine specials , documentary's , a never ending stream of celebrities , religious leaders , political movers and shakers sallied forth to give there opinions and predictions . Clean cut all American looking vampire representatives of the VRL ( Vampire rights League ) were soon a common sight on the nightly news , it didn't take long for it to seem almost normal , results of a carefully targeted and expertly planned PR campaign I suppose .

We have a blood substitute now , we only want to exist in peace with you , yadda yadda , etc etc

The rest of the planet had reacted in a variety of different ways , I hear that the Vampires had it pretty tough in the middle East but then again who the hell didn't . Most had welcomed this seemingly new branch of mankind , hate groups popped up sure but hey , show me any minority and I do mean ANY , and with a few clicks on the web I could bring up the hate mongers home pages , web sites and good lord knows what else , white , black , Asian , Jew , Muslim , Christian . Everybody was hated by somebody so it was not really anything new . When the Rev Steve Newlin graced our screens to rant and rave about his Fellowship of the sun and it mission to expose every fanged abomination to Jesus's holy light , some took notice sure .

Bu then again some had taken notice when Jerry Falwell had launched attack after attack on homosexuals , even when he rallied his followers to the cause of exposing a children's TV character as openly gay , if Teletubbies were fair game then I guess Vampires were as well , these so called men of god never seemed to realise for every one American who nodded their head in agreement and picked up the banner of their touted cause , ten more shook their heads in bemused disgust and changed the channel .

We were just used to it

I had wanted to meet a vampire for a while there as well , after all who wouldn't want to get a glimpse of something that had been legend when you were born and then fact before you hit thirty

But I never did , I guess Bon Tomps didn't have much to offer the undead besides skeeter bites and dynamite fishing , nether of which they took us up on . I played with the idea of heading out to New Orleans or maybe Shreveport , Bojer perhaps to check out the new clubs and bars that had sprung up to cater for the avid fans of the Vampires but had just never got round to it , I always seemed to have something else to do , or the cash to spare .

And in the days of Gundown , well let's just say I had bigger fish to fry

I wonder now in hindsight how no one ever saw it coming , or if they did they never got the chance or the opportunity to possibly share those thoughts on the matter with the wider public . I do kick myself now , after all the events that followed .

I had taken Biology and Evolutionary history in school , the US supreme court had decided Creationism while a nice idea was probably not the best curricular subject , I had agreed , I truly did believe in the god the father and the holy ghost , I went to church every Sunday and prayed for the souls of my family , I was blessed if you want to call it that , with the faith that comes from having buried every member of my kin from my grandmother to my Parents down to my brother , Heart attack , flash flood and drink driving all in that order , I needed to believe I would see them again someday to believe that we would all be together as a family should be . I needed that

But one man and one women populating the entire planet….No , I don't think so

I preferred the argument that evolution was how and not necessarily the why . There are greater things in heaven and Earth then we were ever meant to know , I forget where I heard that but it always smacked of the truth to me .

So in school I had read about Apex predators and heard the teacher tell us that if we still had woolly mammoth , we would still have had saber tooth cat , or more recently that if we still had more unpolluted ocean and arguably less Japanese we would still have Humpback whales

He would point to the big pyramid on the white board and break down the levels of the food chain for our eager young minds to digest , at the top , standing proud and pretty , was man . But those charts were all pre great reveal as the papers called the big Vampire outing , like a Sunday league football team that had dropped the ball once too often we had been relegated to the lower leagues , we were not the top of the pyramid anymore , we weren't the Apex . The Vampire was

I guess that just hadn't sunk in yet .

But I suppose in my and our collective defence , we had enough troubles slapping us in the face in those days to go looking for new ones , you don't look for the wolf behind you when the tiger in front of you is so close you can smell his breath , and what an acrid , stinking breath it was , the kind of smell that can only come from twenty five million dead in five months , globally I'm ashamed to say I have no clue , not even now , but I do know that a few weeks after the first cases hit New York and Yonkers went up in flames , not to mention the living hell of what happened on Manhattan island , the US government had made repeated attempts to contact the People's republic of china , Satellite , Radio , Jesus I even heard we tried mail and twitter . No reply was forthcoming

Now some said this was simply the '' chinks '' their term not mine , just messing with us , keeping themselves off the grid and hunkering down to tackle the problem , but after watching what Gundown had wrought on our corner of the world after a few weeks , I just didn't want to imagine what the year and half they had endured had done . Do you know what I thought ? , I was of the mind that there was simply no one left to pick up the phone , and there was , they really had nothing to say .

All through the news broadcast and radio updates , even after the Wal-Mart incident I was still trying to hang onto the last bit of delusion , that little scrap of fantasy that I wrapped round myself at night and let me imagine a year or two down the road from now , I would be slinging beers in Merlotes , slapping grabbing hands away from my tush and serving up heart bypasses on a roll to my brothers old friends on the road crew , we would chat and say stuff like '' Hey you remember all that who-ha about Gundown ? , dodged a bullet there didn't we ''

That was torn away from me one Saturday morning in July , Louisiana was a hot zone by then , Marshal law and all that Jazz , Merlotes was allowed to stay open as to be frank the quarantine effort in other states had amounted to two things '' Jack'' and ''Shit '' , folks didn't choose to congregate as much sure , but a lot still did simply because they didn't know what else to do or had no place left to go , people around here could take a lot , but I think the reason they didn't close places like Merlotes down was simple , tell a southerner he may very well die soon and they may take it hard , tell em they can't get a drink ? , well like my daddy used to say god rest his soul '' That's a cunt hair to far''

Better in the bars than in the streets right . The government had enough to deal with , they didn't need riots as well , although they did get those to eventually . And some doozies they were

I had been begging my poor little Toyota not to die on me for the last mile to work , gas was in short supply and it was only because of Hoyt bless his heart my brothers friend from School , and then the work crew that I had any at all , public service vehicles were rationed a government supply and Hoyt would skim a little off the top for me , I would always offer to pay but he would just blush and refuse , Hoyt was what my Grandmother used to call a touched spirit , somebody just so naturally kind and good that they were put on the earth as a reminder of what folks could be if they tried , I knew he liked to look out for me as he had always blamed himself for Jason's Death , Hoyt had backed down the night Jason picked up his car keys drunk , oh Hoyt tried you can bet your ass he did , and he got a fist to the face for his trouble , my brother had turned into a pretty mean drunk after gran died , he was one of those former jocks who had lived it up in high school , enjoyed the dizzying heights of popularity and fame that came from his throwing arm and all state wins , but then come down with a pretty painful thud when life and everyone else moved on and he had no place left to go , no place but down .

Not smart enough for College , not good enough for the NFL . He was lucky to get on the road crew

He became one of those sad caricatures of good ol boys , glory days long past , he grew a beer gut and his former good looks started to fade from the heavy drinking and bitter bile that had built up inside him

That night he wrapped his car around a tree , I take a little comfort that they said he died instantly , but not that much .

Hoyt had never forgiven himself , so I think he tried to be there for me and make amends , although he had nothing to feel sorry for , Jason had made his choice

I saw the smoke before the flames , I turned into Merlotes car park and straight into a scene from hell , thick black smoke hung everywhere , tongues of flames leaped thirty feet high into the air , I recognised the VAR ( Virus Alert Response ) team and those big red trailers they drove around in , like fire engines but without the hose and ladder

A fire engine wasn't even there

I scrambled out of my car and ran over only to be stopped by Bud Dearborn , he didn't touch me , that was pretty much taboo these days , he just held up his hands to halt me , his cold war era gas mask just looked almost comical , even I knew anything less than a full NBC suit didn't do shit against Gundown

( Nuclear , Biological ,Chemical )

He explained as calmly and as slowly as he could as I watched the bar reduced to blackened cinders

He had got the report this morning to come down here , someone had found Sam dead behind the bar , I still don't know to this day how he got sick , who gave it to him , but then most didn't back then , you got it , you died

The VAR team confirmed the infection , then set fire to the whole building , it was standard practice . They had burnt the whole city of Chicago to the ground to try and halt the disease , they weren't going to spare a moment thinking about torching a red neck bar

The incubation period varied so much some doctors argued we weren't dealing with one virus but about a dozen , but at that time I really couldn't have cared less . I walked away from Bud not knowing that would be the last time I would see him alive , he contracted it from his wife a few days later , he knew she was sick but he didn't try and do anything , I heard he closed up his house , hung a warning on the door and climbed into bed with her , Bud could be a pain in the ass about a lot of things and I knew he was also a bit of a bigot and a racist .

But he loved his wife more than anything in the world . Even living , so you knew he had a heart

I drove home on auto pilot , I don't recall any of the journey , once home I took off my coat and hung it on the back of the kitchen door , kicked off my comfy work sneakers and curled into a ball right there on the floor , and I cried , and I cried , and I cried

I didn't think I had that much water in me .

It was all pretty much downhill after that , not to say that it had been a cake walk up to that point but still , now I had no place left to hide , not even in my own head

Things went from bad , to worse , to fucked up , and if there was a next level after that , we hit it as well .

I stayed indoors for pretty much the next three months , my secluded little house was actually a survivors dream , I had no neighbours for miles , Bon tomps was a sparsely populated area surrounded by swamp , and a lot of folk had up sticks and moved when the shit had really hit the fan , I never understood that , a lot of those family's lived in houses just like mine , out of the way and stocked well with supplies , but they gave it all up to head to New Orleans or other population centres , chasing stupid rumours about vaccines or a big helicopter evacuation , evacuate ? , where the hell did they think they were going to evacuate to ? .

This was a fucking global Pandemic , it was every where

I had tried to get hold of Hoyt just before the phones and electricity went down , I figured if I wanted anyone with me Hoyt was top of my list , a good man with a good aim , no dear who ever saw Hoyt point a gun at it ever got to tell his buddies about it . I wanted to ask if he and his mamma wanted to come bunk with me , you know , pool our resources or what ever .

I wasn't so keen on Mrs Fotternberry but I was Christian enough to swallow my distaste and look at the bigger picture , plus even if I didn't care for her that much , I sure as shit didn't want to be out here all on my own .

I had been about to hang up after the tenth ring or so but then coughing and spluttering came over the wire , a tired and weak voice asked who it was , I recognised Mrs Fotternberry's voice small as it was , I told her who I was and asked if she was alright , a stupid question I know , I could hear she was sick , but southern manners died about as hard as Southerners themselves .

She told me she was indeed sick and had been since yesterday when she had buried Hoyt in the back garden , she coughed some more and then wished me god speed , told me I was a good girl, then the line went dead .

I didn't cry , I didn't have any tears left

That was the last time I spoke to anybody for what seemed like a coons age , I had my wind up radio to make sure I didn't miss a second of the collapse of the world humans had spent the last ten thousand years or so building , I would sit by candle light in my grans old rocking chair in front of the living room hearth , cup of sweet tea in one hand , radio , in the other and my shotgun on my lap

I think those were some of the darkest days of my life , and coming from someone who's said goodbye to every living piece of family they ever had in this world ? . That's pretty dark

I didn't know then that very shortly one kind of nightmare would be replaced with another , that fear of one thing would soon begin to pale with fear of another

That Soon I was going to meet my first Vampire , and nothing was ever going to be the same again

My name is Sookie Stackhouse , and I'm an endangered species

It's nice to meet you .

**What do you think ?**


	2. Chapter 2

I remember in History class once , back in the good old days of Bon Tomps high , we had been studying the second world war . Part of the syllabus of course been arguably the darkest chapter in human history to date , although the events of the last year or so may have since trumped it , was the Holocaust .

We had sat and watched as the aged second hand and probably donated projector had cast the eerie shadowy images of the death camps onto the class room wall , the distorted sounds of the commentary playing out through the tiny tape deck on the teacher's desk .

I recall the sallow and gaunt faces that shuffled in single file off the train carts , forms hunched and emaciated as they trudged towards the waiting gates and almost certain doom , in my fiery youth I had been indignant that anybody could so willingly walk to their own death with nothing more than a teary eye and forlorn look , I wanted to shout at the images of decades long past and berate them for their lack of courage , in my ignorant and small minded blinkers of inexperience I envisioned that if I were there I would have done something , I would have rallied my fellow oppressed , sowed dissention among my comrades and pointed out '' We are so many , they are so few '' , they may been armed and stronger but we have force of numbers .

I would jump up and shout and scream in warning , marshal others to my banner like a teenaged blond haired , D cupped Spartacus '' Give me liberty or give me death '' We would storm the wire , wash over the guards and smash the gates , some would die of course but in the vigour of our assault soon the jack booted evil doers would be obliterated , those who weren't mown down would flee in terror at the knowledge we would not go quietly into the good night and the day won , and thus the uprising would start .

Reality it seemed as of late had taken to bitch slapping me like a Detroit Pimp and I was its least favourite girl

The cold harsh reality of a hopeless situation is just that , it's hopeless .

It was my turn to trudge now , to hunch over terrified and impotent as unspeakable horrors went on all around me , I walked as fast as the thick chain around my neck allowed , that and how fast the stranger I was chained too in front me walked , and how often the person behind me would falter and trip , my head would be periodically yanked back as the fastenings to the rear me were pulled taught , small startled protests in a feeble small voice .

What I could see now in the cold light of reality was that fear is as infectious as Gundown , if not more so . Looking left and right at the bedraggled forms that made up my fellow inmates , prisoners , cattle , whatever you wanted to call us , it became all too clear .

Each face told the same story , the cold and even worse hungry glares from our captors were like search lights seeking out any dissent any resistance , every soul here was locked into their own private little hell , we didn't really seem to exist to one another , I didn't want to look at the credit card sized plastic tag that hung pierced from their ears as I knew I had one just like it hanging painfully from mine , the throbbing beat of pain in my lower lobe the only soundtrack besides the whimpers and the crying , the moaning and mumbled prayers .

My eyes stung and nostrils reeled from the fumes of the disinfectant they had sprayed on each of us , the clinical tang of hospital and slaughter house mixed into one , hung in my nose like an unwelcome guest , cold shivers as the barely there paper thin hospital gowns that they had forced us to put on did nothing to keep out the unrelenting chill , all the heat seemed to have escaped this frigid place in search of more pleasant surroundings , I guess when your dead heat is not something that bothers you so much , and out comfort was a low or even non-existent priority for our guards .

Here and now all these years later I understood perfectly what had gone on in those camps , why those people had marched to their doom .Because life isn't like the movies or favourite books , the hero isn't able to quickly and keenly asses there situation with a calm steady mind and agile eye , probing for weakness as cleaver escape plan are concocted right under the noses of the enemy

When you're scared , that's all you can think about , being scared.

The mind numbs with the hell going on around you , you lock up , freeze and are fixed to the spot like a rabbit in the oncoming headlights of your own death , it isn't always ''Fight'' or ''Flight'' , there is a third option , terror

Spirit crushing terror .

All I wanted to do was survive and right now it seemed the only way to do that was do what I was told , and that I know was what was going through the minds of every other poor misfortune who was sharing my nightmare , our nightmare

So now I knew , and I wished to god I didn't .

The line suddenly stopped moving and I was again pulled from behind , the elderly man I had briefly seen when our chains had been linked back to front was hardly able to stay on his feet anymore , I could hear his breathing was laboured and scratchy , like an old Volkswagen engine that's giving you time to make alternative arrangements before it conks out altogether , I had a car like that once .

As the dark form moves towards me I desperately look to the floor , my white bare feet , I squinted my eyes and recanted my sins , please not me , please not me

It was me

My arm is jerked as ice cold fingers grip it painfully , I want to cry out but I've seen what happens to those who make a fuss , I've only been here a few hours and already I know all too well

I try to control my shivering as my neck chains front and back are unfastened , quickly the gap I have left in the line is closed up , the old man behind me is joined to the sickly looking black lady who had been in front of me , her skin was pallid and thin looking and I was willing to bet on better days it was supposed to be a warm rich coffee tone

My ear tag is pulled sharply and I can't hold in the cry of pain this time , the vampire who I had yet to look out ran a small device over the bar code printed on it until a resounding beep presumably gave him the information he was looking for , he takes a moment to read it and I hear another gruff voice speak over his shoulder '' Prime Stock '' , I hadn't even heard Vampire number two approach but I'm starting to learn you usually don't hear them coming , mores the pity .

Vampire one grunts and before I know what happening a hand clamps down achingly on my left breast , the squeezing is almost excruciating as he seems to inspect it , my face burns with shame and disgust at this callous grading of my assets , I wonder if things can get any worse until what happens next

As quick as it appeared the hand leaves my breast and swiftly travels down my gown , down and then under it , my movement is instinctual to protect myself , I try and double over but as one hand snakes between my clamped together thighs a second grips me by the scruff on the neck and gives a warning shake , the message is clear , hot tears stream my cheeks as I feel a cold digit slide roughly into me , I whimper and fight the urge to vomit right there on the vampire shoes

This entire time I have been looking at the floor , I don't want to look at these things faces , I know that's what they are now ''Things '' , Vampire to me indicates some sense of a person but I can't think of them like that anymore , not after what I've seen .

My '' Grading '' is not over soon enough but next I'm being frogged marched to the side and then to stand in front of a grey metal door , I can see the words '' Prime Stock '' has been stencilled onto the door , I still can't see the thing behind me as it has not let go of my neck yet , I'm jerked and moved like a meat puppet.

The door is slid open by my puppeteer and then without preamble I'm tossed inside like a sack of potatoes , I hit the ground with a grunt and remain where I fall

From the corridor I hear a raised voice shout out

'' Be more careful , those are worth a fortune , if you want to beat something up , pick one of the older ones ''

The thing in front of the door with a far more intimate knowledge of my body than I would like grunts again , I wonder briefly if it can actually talk .

The door is slammed shut and I'm plunged into darkness , but I'm grateful I'm alone , if that thing had followed me into the dark I wonder if I would have died of fright

I have , like all women I suppose at one point or other contemplated the abject horror that must be rape , it's human nature , your brain go's to the darkest places just because you don't want it to , I try and imagine how I'm going to handle that when it comes , it's a sign of my times that I don't wonder ''If '' but ''When ''

Every human , every wretch out there has blood pumping through there terrified veins , but that had nothing to do with how nice my breasts felt or how tight my vagina is , it's simple deduction

I don't fight it anymore , I heave my last free meal all over the floor and then crawl to a far corner to huddle in

I curse my luck and I curse God , I curse that I'm not already in the cold ground with no more fears or troubles

And just so I'm not being unfair I curse myself

I had applied old world values to this new world that had none , stupid , stupid , stupid

I had a good thing going back at the farm , and I know now after hearing other folks tales that I had it better than most

The old Stackhouse homestead had been built pre civil war , the infrastructure had been all there for a return to pre-industrial living , wood burning hearth that gave me heat , a natural bore hole on my land supplied me with clean albeit odd tasting water , I would boil the hell out of it before I drank it but after a few weeks I hadn't croaked so I figured I was good

My vegetable garden supplied me with food to flesh out my quickly vanishing dried and canned food , and when that wasn't quite enough I recalled my younger days setting snares with my father , it's one of the few memories I have of us spending real time together , he normally took Jason as it was a man's job to pass on such things to his son while the mother taught the daughter to sew and clean , such was the old fashioned division of the sex's in the deep south

But on day he had took me with him , it was easy enough to rig them , they were after all simple if a little cruel devices , but if PETA wanted to come down and give me any crap they could damn well try to sue me , they would be shit out of luck , if there was any justice in the world all the lawyers were long dead , I didn't really have enough ammo for the Benelli 12 gauge to go running round the woods blasting at anything that moved , it kicked like a mule so I had only envisioned it for home defence

I have to tell you as a women on her own as the world is ending , I felt much better having that cobalt blue steel and chestnut stock in my arms on cold dark nights , it had been one of the few things I had not given to the good will after my brother had been killed , he had more guns but I passed them to his friends as they would get more use out them , and I think it's what he would have wanted , I gave Hoyt , Jason's old bolt action rifle it had been the one they had shared when they were kids growing up , those two had been the scourge of every squirrel in a five mile radius , I had been disgusted by the senseless killing but I was told it wasn't girl stuff anyway and to go play will my dolls

I had about two dozen rounds of triple-aught '6 that I knew if push came to shove could blast a man clean out of his boots , so I wanted to conserve this as much as possible , it wasn't as if I could pop down to Wal-Mart anymore to pick up more , I just knew leaving the safety of my home would be a bad idea , the risk of infection was high and also I didn't want to take the chance of running into anyone , folk can get pretty crazy , pretty fast when they're scared or think you have something they need or just plain want , I was under no illusions anymore about the world I was living in now , we had all taken a big jump back and now it was everyman or women for themselves , pretty bleak and cynical I know but I had to be realistic

The first time I had caught a rabbit in one of my snares I jumped for joy , then was hit with a stark reminder of why I had never gotten into hunting like my brother , skinning the rabbit was revolting for me , after I had scrapped out the guts and got the skin off I promptly spewed in my Grandmothers rockery in between the azaleas , it was a good thing I had decided to do it out side . I felt guilty as Gran loved that rockery , I mumbled a quick apology and a prayer , but I'm sure Gran would have understood , then she would have swiftly kicked me in the butt and said '' Put you big girl panties on Sookie '' . So I did and the rabbit and carrot stew I had for dinner that night more than made up for the multi coloured yawn I had endured .

After that I could skin ten a day without batting an eye lash , Davy Crockett was starting to have nothing on me

My wind up radio was my only source of information from the now alternate dimension the outside world had become , most of the time it was just the emergency broadcast system , long dull bleeps then a pre-recorded message giving the same update over and over again

'' Stay indoors , do not approach the sick '' Yeah , thanks for that .

In the early days there had still been what we may have recognised as a news type broadcasts , some new doctor or expert telling us how Gundown may be a mutated form of Influenza or even H1N1 , as if that made a damn of difference now , did they imagine the folk laying on their sick beds drowning in their own blood really give a fuck if what was eating them alive had a fancy name ? . Pathetic , about as much use as tits on a bull as Jason would to say .

But after a while those stopped all together , maybe they ran out of experts

I fiddled with the dials sometimes , got little snippets of what sounded like foreign languages but nothing I could really do anything with , I only spoke two languages , English and bad English

Then one night I found if I jammed the frequency between two settings I got different voices , they were garbled and hard to make out but they were there , I realised eventually they must be CB radio broadcasts , same thing the truckers used and such , soon after I wished I had never made that discovery .

They were messages from a dying country , some just begged repeatedly for help , I'm sick , I'm starving , please help . And those were the good ones , the ones I hated the most were the ones begging for others , my husband is sick

My baby is starving

It was like a car crash , I just couldn't not look , I would go for days at a time before I cracked and went back to them , I had no way to talk back but just hearing them let me know I wasn't alone in the world .

I got to listen as people I had never met and never would fell apart on the airwaves , choked sobs and laboured prayers , one time I listened to a women sing a sweet church song , she had the voice of an angel , in better times I could imagine her leading her Baptist Choir in praise , long flowing purple robe draped around her as she raised her hands to the ceiling to hold those long soulful notes

Every night for three nights straight at the same time she would come on , each song was more beautiful than the last , each more meaningful , I would wonder if she and I ever came across each other would we be friends , would she keep my spirits up by singing to me in that heavenly tone .

On the fourth night she could just about get the words out in-between long jagged coughing fits , each hack was like a knife in my gut , I listened and wept as Gundown cut this little piece of heaven on earth to ribbons

Until there was just silence and static

I dragged a dining room chair out and hid the radio onto the tallest shelf in the house , I was done torturing myself for a while , I thought maybe it was just better not to know .

Then the night came I was cracked out of my safe little nut

I had just finished my dinner and was blowing out the candles in the living room when I heard something that other than on the radio , I hadn't heard for months

It was a voice

For a moment I thought maybe I was hearing things , the Louisiana nights could be creepy with all the critters rustling around out there , but sure enough after another minute it came again low and distant sounding '' Help me '' , Those two words I could make out clear as day , I scrambled clumsily for my rifle , it stood ready and loaded in its place by the front door . I checked it just to be safe and slid down the wall with my back to it and waited , '' Help me please , I'm hurt ''

It sounded raspy and strained but close

My mind went a mile a minute , a hundred thoughts bounced round my head , should I help , should I just stay put , would they try and get in , round and round they went till I was a bit dizzy

My front door was an original fitting from when the how was built , it still even had the big iron dead bolt the travelled the entire width of the entrance , this door had been built to withstand pillaging invaders , it had kept my forbears safe during the war of northern aggression , there was no way it was coming down easy , plus it had a letter flap cut at waist height for the post , if anyone did start pounding on it I could always shove the shotgun through the flap and ''**POW** '' a crotch full of 00 buckshot would stop just about anything on god's green earth

'' Help me , please , I need help ''

FUCK , could I really just sit here cowering in the dark while someone died on my front yard ? . What would my gran say ? . What would she think of me looking down on her little girl as she turned her back on someone in need , all my church on Sunday and night time prayers and when I have the chance to help , to carry out what Jesus taught and died for I clam up shut and consider shooting them in the nuts? .

God help me I couldn't , I just couldn't

My hand trembled so bad I could hardly get the door unlocked but once I did I slowly opened it up , it was dark outside or course , pitch dark , I couldn't see a blessed thing , I gingerly steeped out with my quivering rifle pointed straight ahead , when I made it to the first step on the porch , it happened

It seemed like this great wind sideswiped me and yanked the gun up , I squeezed the trigger and blew a basketball sized hold in the veranda roof , no sooner had my head made contact with the floor , a vice attached itself to my ankle and pulled me so hard I think I must have flew at least ten feet before landing in a heap on the yard

No time to get my bearings I was gripped by both arms and whisked up to face a snarling visage straight out of a horror movie , it was pale and gaunt , I couldn't help but be drawn to the two sharp fangs that hung from its mouth like murderess looking icicles from the maw of a cave

Sookie , meet Vampire , Vampire meet Sookie

The rest is some hideous montage of throwing and dragging and tossing around , a van or big car then a bumpy rough ride in the dark , more dragging and now a compound or building , high fences all around , barbed wire , formless shapes in the dark perimeter , patrolling , watching

I'm tossed from one pair of hands to another like a food aid package at an relief station , in retrospect that was a pretty good assessment , although I hadn't figured out that horrible bit of information yet .

Before I know it I'm inside and my clothes are literally ripped off me , right down to my knickers and then my bra is yanked painfully straight off my back

I'm dumped in a sheep dip set up filled with noxious chemicals that burn my skin and sting my eyes , I'm blind as a day old baby as some sort of gown is pulled over my head , I just about have time to put my arms up before its pulled down , like dressing a toddler

All while this is going on , my brain seems to be having some form of spasm , I'm just not given any time to proses what the hell is happening to me

Then it's time for the tag , I squint through my chemical haze to see what looks like a cross between a nail gun and a monkey wrench be brought to bear against my head , I try and squirm but a hand grips my head so hard I think it might pop like a grape , my ear is pinched in the device then

**CLINK**

The pain shoots through me , white hot and visceral , Jesus Christ that hurts . I can feel there is something hanging from my ear now , it sends fresh waves of pain through me when it flops around

Then shoved along again , I can make out others now , people are being stripped like me , some I can see are naked as the day they were born , some are in thin gowns , the backs flap open to expose more than they should .

The floor is tiled in white , so are the walls and even the ceiling , I try and get my bearings but I just can't , all around me there is screaming and shouting , I'm gripped from behind and held fast but unmoving , it gives me a moment to just watch what's happening , the tiled room is large but the ceiling is low , hooks hang in rows from bolted fixtures , its dark but I can make out more than I wish I could

A few feet in front of me a large naked man is held by the arm as a black clad figure advances on him , the one holding him grabs his head and twists it to the side , I recognise the monkey wrench gun

Before he can be tagged , he somehow lashes out and knocks the device from the approaching figures hand , as it turns out that was a big mistake

Faster than I can follow the first figure draws back his arm and backhands the man so hard I swear he must have hit the wall doing twenty miles an hour , he slumps in a pile at the base , I can see blood running from his mouth and nose .

It's like a Mexican wave go's through the place , every black clad figure seems to go rigid , I can feel the one holding me from behind has pulled me even closer and is now sniffing me , Christ he is sniffing me like a piece of pecan pie

Some of the figures stop doing whatever it is there doing and move slowly over to the crumpled helpless man , he is steadily regaining consciousness but for what happens next I bet he wished he hadn't .

They fall on him

It's like a down pour of bodies , he just disappears under the thrashing black forms . Then he starts to scream

It erupts in high pitched bursts , incoherent babbling , he's begging

Behind the heaving mass of what must be half a dozen bodies is the white tiled wall , so when there is a wet crunching snap sound every person in the room gets to see the splash of crimson that shoots out of the melee to coat the surface

Everybody who wasn't screaming starts to , everybody who already was , screams harder

I join them

When one of the thrashing forms detaches from the feeding frenzy to start to lick the wall , I just about feel my sanity loose its grip , I'm teetering on an edge here and the fact that the figure holding me is now growling and sniffing harder , is not helping

Over the absolutely deafening roar of screams and shouts and growling , comes a booming voice , I don't move , I'm to scared to so I have to wait until the owner strides into my view , he's dressed different to the all-black clad nightmares that have just ripped a man to pieces in front of me

I'm no expert but I think they call it an oxford button down suit , its navy with a slight sheen to it , I can hardly believe this figure wearing Sunday best complete with loafers is roaring with authority at these monsters with blood smearing every bit of their faces , thicker looking clumps of what I'm guessing is flesh is spattered around their mouths

I'm going to puke

'' Get this place back in order NOW , or il have your heads , no dipping into the stock , or face the true death , now clean this mess up ''

He waves his hand at what used to be a human being but now more closely resembles a quivering mass of broken bone and pulped jam , the black clad figures shift and murmur assent like public school boys given an unpleasant task after being caught doing something naughty .

When oxford suit figure turns towards me I swear my heart stops beating , it literally stops because up till now it has been hammering in my ear , but now under his gaze it's like it's trying to hide my presence , unaware that its actions may very well kill me

He points at me , and I close my eyes , I make my piece and hope I will see Gran and Jason and mamma and papa soon

I hope it wont hurt for long

'' And you , stop slobbering on the goods , get that checked in and then get yourself back out with the scouting parties ''

It takes me a moment to figure out he is talking to the figure holding me , my heart starts beating again

I hear the clink of chains as something is clamped around my neck non to carefully , I'm shoved into a line of other shaking and terrified people and chained at the front and back in a conga line of misery

As the line starts to move I make the mistake of looking to my left as I hear a women scream and beg , a few feet away two of the figures are dragging a naked girl across the room , one on each arm they walk into an adjacent room and throw her to the ground where she huddles jibbering and begging and crying , one of the figures drops to his knees and pushes her onto her back , he quickly wedges himself astride her , wedging her legs open to accommodate him , she screams harder as he seems to fiddle with his belt , figure two looks up from observing to catch me watching in transfixed horror from across the room , he takes three steps forward and slams the door shut , the sound cuts off the girls scream mid pitch

It's the sound of that girl begging that rings in my ears as I sit here huddled in the corner , the smell of my own vomit hangs in the air , that and pure undiluted fear . I'm not sure how long I stay in that state , my mind and body seem to be at war , the physical form seeks rest while the mind recoils from such an action , I've read about this , soldiers get it sometimes if there on the front line to much

I drift in-between the waking worlds nightmare and the just as dark world of my inner mind

The sound of the door being pulled open brings me back with a start , light flooding in sends my eyelids jarring shut , seeking refuge from the glare

I hear one set of heavy footfalls enter the room , my guts clench , then I hear another set enter

'' Here she is , prime stock , worth every cent '' The voice seems to echo in the enclosed space

I want to be sick again , but there is nothing left inside me

On many levels


	3. Chapter 3

Have you ever had one of those times when you're really scared so the temptation to keep your eyes closed is like an almost irresistible compulsion ?

I used to do this when I was a little girl on visits to the doctor to get booster shots , god I hated Dr Phelps , he was a mean old cantankerous goat , he had this horrible hairy wart on his cheek that reminded me of a squished spider , it was gross . Now I think on it I wonder why someone like him who was in the medical profession didn't look into having it removed , but maybe he just didn't care enough about what folks thought , he certainly came across that way sometimes .

When mamma would roll up my sleeve I would steal a quick look at the mean old doctor as he filled the syringe from one of those little bottles and squirt some out to get rid of the air bubbles , this little ritual always filled me with a sense of dread at what was to come .

He shuffled closer on his wheeled office chair and grip my arm as it was offered up by mamma

As soon as he touched me my eyes would clamp down like little security shutters at the bank , I swear if you had popped little sticks under them they would still have shot down , sending the sticks flying no doubt , I just couldn't bear to see the needle slide into my arm , it was like I could disassociate myself from what was happening to me as long as I didn't look .

That's what was happening now

As much as being in a room with two Vampires with my eyes closed seemed like a foolish thing to do , I couldn't work up the courage to look at the monster that was about to rape me here on this cold damp floor . I wished to god they had not taken my cloths , I would do just about anything right now for a pair of thick jeans and a jumper . It's not that I was crazy of traumatised enough just yet to think some denim and wool would prevent the horror that was about to be inflicted on me , it was just that I knew such garments would have at least given me precious seconds to come to maybe some sort of resolution about how I would handle it , would I fight , lay back and let it happen

I suppose from a cold clinical point of view just letting him get on with it would ensure that maybe he hurt me less , but then I recalled the young girl and the two things from before and scalded myself for indulging in false hope , it would hurt because that's how these things wanted it , they wanted to hurt me .

But it was all a moot point anyway , all I had in the way of protection between me and my fate was a hospital gown that I could have ripped in half in two seconds so against these things standing a foot from me , no chance

These gowns were made to provide easy access to your body for the medical professional , but they worked just as well for Vampire rapists

They would have it off me in seconds and be inside me probably before I knew what was happening

I know it's a sin to wish God to strike you dead but In that instant I didn't care , I sinned , I sinned over and over again in my head

When my arm was grabbed I damn nearly jumped clear out of my skin , my spine went stiff as a board as I battened down the hatches for what I thought was going to happen next

So I was pretty surprised when I was yanked to me feet instead of pushed onto my back or rolled onto my stomach , it's not as if I had experience with this sort of thing but I would have thought sexually assaulting someone who was standing up would be tricky

Before I could contemplate this further , I was moving , it was meat puppet hour again

The familiar hand clamped down and this time I just went with it , I stayed limp as possible to minimise resistance so they would know I was cooperating

I stuck with my trick of looking at the floor , it seemed preferable to looking around , if I'd learned anything in my time here it was every occasion I looked up I saw something I would wish to my grave I hadn't , the images I had witnessed in a few short hours here were cattle branded to the insides of my eyelids , years later I would still see them in my sleep

Especially the girl

More frog marching , I did my best to keep up but they were taller than me , especially the one walking ahead , I could tell by what I had seen of his legs that he was a very tall one , my puppeteer I think just increased his speed to stay in step , I just had to do my best

I didn't know what would happen if I fell but I bet it wouldn't be good

After a moment we stopped in front of what appeared to be a desk or some such , I couldn't be sure as my eyes remained down cast , I listened to the things briefly exchange words

'' In need you to sign here , you understand that as of this point the stock shows no indication of infection , but once it leaves here we are not liable for any health issues that occur , we practise a no refunds policy ''

This was the puppeteer , I could tell

'' Understood '' That was long legs

There was movement going on around me but I remained where I was , eyes down

When my strings were cut , and by that I mean my neck was released from its boa tight hold I almost sagged to the floor , I hadn't realised id been walking on pretty much tip toe this entire time

I was startled when a pair of what looked like white Crocs landed in my view , I stared at them for a second , well it didn't take a genius to figure this out , I stepped slowly into them , that was easy to do as they must have been about three sizes to big , but I must admit the relief from the cold floor was nice , but not so nice it took the edge of my possibly impending death

For that I would have needed a bottle of Wild Kentucky and a pack of Xanax

Unsure what to do next I just stood there mute , they had been rather efficient up till now to let me know in no uncertain terms what they wanted of me so I just went with the flow , when a hand made contact with the small of my back I jumped again but quickly recovered

It pushed me a little like it was trying to get me going , when it was removed I stopped , it was just habit now

The owner of the appendage seemed to figure this out as it quickly replaced the hand and this time left it there as we walked at a mercifully slower pace now , I must have cut a ridiculous figure in a white hospital gown that was about a size to small and big floppy shoes that were far too large for me , they shuffled and clacked against the ground , I was forced to grip the insides with my toes to stop myself just walking out of them

We passed through multiple sets of doors and what must have been a few yards of corridor , it was difficult to judge as the floor looked the same throughout this place apparently

When a final set of doors opened and I was hit with a cold gust of wind I almost choked on the sudden rush of tears that hit me like a mini tsunami , I had never thought I would see the outside world again , it was tarmac but Jesus at that minute I seriously thought about doing a Pope and falling to me knees and kissing that ugly cracked black car park floor .

I must have faltered for a second at getting out of there alive but oddly the hand didn't grab or yank or pull me but just stopped , I quickly started again but did take a moment to consider that

More clack , clack ,clacking in my clown shoes and then the hand shifted from my back to my shoulder and stopped me , I heard the jingling of car keys being fished out of a pocket and then the same keys hitting a lock .

Maybe it was the sleep dep or healthy dose of delayed shock/PTSD but I suddenly found myself wanting to laugh out loud about Vampire's having to deal with something so human and trivial as car keys , did they lose them like humans and spend an hour searching there castle or cave or whatever for them before going back to the first place they looked and finding them .

I was starting to feel hazy , maybe a little manic , I'm not sure what

A clunk sounded and a red door swung into my ground view , again the hand was back on the base of my spine and pushing me forward , like the Croc's it was obvious what I was supposed to do here

Whatever type of car this was it was low , sporty , maybe some kind of muscle car I wasn't certain . It wasn't that I was a girly , girl that only knew where the petrol went but there is only so much you can discern from a small piece of door and then passenger side stairwell

Once situated the door was closed with minimal amount of force , that was a small mercy as my poor little heart had aged about ten years in the last 48hrs , if you were to have blown up a paper bag and popped it behind my head at that time ? . I would have dropped dead on the spot , I'm not kidding you

I was alone for less than a second before the driver's door opened and I felt the weight of the car shift and sag , wow someone was a big boy

The deep pulsating rumble of the engine started , it travelled the entire breadth of the vehicle the way only a beast of an engine like a V6 or V8 could do , the throbbing cylinders under the hood caused the car to vibrate , unfortunately it also caused my ear tag to behave strangely and the up till now silent lobe pain started again in earnest , I blinked back the tears .

Suddenly it leaned into my space , I felt its shape sidle up next to me and then loom over , ok , here it was , it was finally going to kill me , Christ I remember thinking , maybe this is like their version of the drive through or takeaway , grab your food and then eat it in your car .

I clamped my eyes shut , I did not want to see it coming , call me a coward but only do it after you've been in a situation you think your about to die , then see your preconceptions dry up fast . That bit in the movies when they offer a blindfold and the condemned declines with a turn of his head ? . That's not blasé , that's fucking hard core , until you're in that same situation shut the hell up you have no idea what you're talking about , to watch your death delivered is no small act of courage , I just didn't have any left by that point .

Any second it would start chewing on me and ripping and scratching , tearing me limb from…

**CLICK**

The presence retreats and I open my eyes again to look down at the black stretch of seat belt across my chest , ok , what the hell .

Did it just belt its dinner in ? .

The car rocked forward and we were away , after what must have been about half an hour or so the urge to look to me left was getting pretty strong , I was locked in an internal debate . My earlier thoughts about how every time I peeked I regretted it were still in my mind but curiosity can be a incredibly powerful force , I've heard it said by people most likely much more intelligent than me, it's supposed to man kinds biggest strength and weakness rolled into one , its pushes us ever forward but sometimes that takes us to some crappy places .

I was really starting to feel tired now but sleeping just wasn't an option , I was almost thankful for the tag that rocked with the motion of the car as every time it hit my shoulder it sent a sharp wakeup call my way , it was unrelenting like a baby that's got designs on your ear rings and won't rest until it yanked them clean out .

I have no clue how long the drive was , but the speed we were going had me guessing it was pretty far , what added to my sense of discombobulation was that it hadn't turned the head lights on , I had no idea how it could see out into the inky black to travel as fast as we were , I had never played night chicken in high school but I knew kids who did , well we seemed to be playing it now , I half expected us to hit something any minute but we never did , I've since learnt all about Vampire's and there sensory perception , owls have nothing on the undead , of course owls don't normally drive sports cars at 90 Mph down country roads at night

All too soon , or not soon enough the car slowed and we took what felt like a right turn into a crunchy gravel drive , we slowed more and more before coming to a complete stop , it cracked its door open without preamble and slinked out , I quickly undid my own belt as I didn't want a repeat of the up close and personnel kind

Sure enough my door opened and it awaited me to alight our ride , I shimmied out as best I could and my face burned at the fact I had no underwear on , the feeling of sticky leather on my genitals was most unwelcome , I was betting if it could see to drive a car at night then I had just given it an eye full , but then again I still expected to be delivered to our destination and then raped to within an inch of my life and perhaps beyond , so screw it .

We were back to the hand again and I was back to staring at the floor , yep , I was right it was gravel , that thick chunky kind that smarts like billy O to walk on , I hoped that non got in my clown shoes as otherwise I would just have to walk with the little stony hitch hiker as it went without saying I couldn't stop and fish it out .

Gravel , gravel , more gravel , then some sort of path way that led up to steps , it fished for keys again and then I heard some sort of bleeping tones in quick secession , electronic keypad ? .

I'm not sure if it was my imagination but I could swear the door hissed when it opened and then was closed behind us , now I had deep plush and obviously expensive looking carpet to look at , so that was a nice change .

I was shepherded down a short corridor to another door and the tones happened again but no keys this time , I was certain this door hissed when it was opened

Stairs led down and its hand fell on my shoulder to steady me , I think there were about two dozen steps so we were pretty far down before I hit carpet again , this time it was a pale blue , again it was the expensive kind , this thing must have a much better decorating budget than I ever had

More being led through a few turns , this way and that , whatever this place was it was sizable , not just a converted basement but what seemed to be a whole other house , although this was all discerned form the floor .

Third door , third key pad , third hiss

Once inside it was again carpet , cream , now I just had to look up , for one thing I had a killer crink in my neck and secondly the suspense was killing me , I had to know where I was , what was going on , as soon as I did I wanted to kick myself, I was right , I never should have looked , my gut lurched and I felt the tears break rank with my eyes and stream down my face , I was staring at a big king size four poster bed , this was it , this is where he would rape and kill me , or if I was really unlucky maybe he would keep me alive to toy with over time , flashes of the worst and I do mean WORST sexual torture my mind could conjure up lurched through my brain , I almost crossed my legs at the knee in reflex

Behind me the door hissed closed , trapping me with my executioner

I whimpered and then choked back a sob

Here we go .


	4. Chapter 4

I stood stark still staring at the luxurious four poster bed with its trestle roof and spiral posts , deep burgundy quilt coverings with intricate half turtle dove designs in gold and silver thread , you just knew underneath there would be 800 hundred thread count sheets and hell maybe even Egyptian cotton , it was the kind of bed you stop to look at in the furniture shop but quickly keeping walking when you see the price , but all that didn't really matter to me right now .

I may as well have been staring at a butchers bloody block

Any second I would be shoved onto that bed and then…

I waited , and I waited and then I waited some more , but nothing came

Shaking like a leaf I slowly worked up the courage to begin turning around and face the thing that had purchased me like a pack of Cheetos , but when I did the slowest 180 of my life I found myself looking at the back of the door and nothing else , I quickly darted my head round the room so fast I may have given myself whip lash , maybe it liked to jump out on its meal , but no , I really was alone

I did what seemed most pertinent , I collapsed right there on the rich shag carpeting , its quality definitely saved me bruised knees , I just couldn't take this anymore , I had been in a state of cat like readiness , abject terror , or foreboding doom for close to …., Christ I did not even know anymore , had the sun risen and set while I had been in that awful place , could this still be the same night I was wrenched away from my safe little home , it felt like it couldn't but I had no way to tell .

What I did know was I was bone weary , I know that's a term we've all used and I may have as well in the past after a double shift , but no this was different , I was tired and aching down to my skeleton . Bone . Weary .

Sat there on my bare butt , carpet thread tickling my who-ha I pondered my next move , why had it left me here alone ? . If this was some sort of weird game it was a very strange thing to do , not that I had much knowledge of how Vampires thought but up till now what I had witnessed seemed to suggest direct and affirmative action , no tip toeing through the tulips for these bad boys , A to B to ripping you to shreds , that was it .

So I really was at a loss

My head had begun to nod involuntary with little bouts of micro-sleep that had started to creep up on me , I lurched back just about in time to stop me face planting into the carpet , I shook myself and franticly rubbed my eyes , I needed to take stock of my situation .

Other than the dreaded but unquestionably beautiful bed , there was a few other pieces of furniture in what I consider to have been a decent sized room , it was slightly larger than the master bed room back at the farm , that had used to be grans room but after she passed I had moved in , it had actually helped as part of the grieving proses as it allowed me to feel close to her and I didn't mind at all her lavender scent hung in the air for many months after , it calmed me .

As if from beyond the grave , thoughts of Gran actually calmed me a little now , I was still in cat , rocking chair , territory but I could think a bit clearer , back to taking stock , two bed side cabinets on either side of the bed , one bare , one with a brass lamp with a green blown glass shade , I could use that for a club if I wrapped the cord around the base to keep it out of the way , ok , moving on

Chest of drawers , nothing on the top , I needed to move and look further . Sheer willpower got my legs to support me as I teetered for a second before finding my footing , I kicked off the stupid big Croc's . I felt a brief shudder as my bare feet touched the carpet , damn this was a soft floor I could sleep on this thing , focus Sookie ! .

Quietly creeping over to the chest of drawers I confirmed one by one that they were all empty , they also had that wood and pine oil smell that only comes from unused drawers that have not had time to soak up the fabric smells , so this was a new set up by the looks of things , the Bed side tables and the chest of drawers , plus on the far end of the room a vanity stand plus chair all matched , so I bet they all came as set , and a pretty darn expensive set as well , this looked like a show piece from better homes and gardens.

That was it , that's what this room felt like , it had that unlived feeling you get with a new house . No stamp was on it just a blank slate , other than the hissing door I was led in through , on the far end of the room was another door , I had spied it earlier but wanted to make my investigations in here first , big girl panties Sookie , Big girl panties , actually ANY panties would be nice about now

Gingerly I approached the possible mystery door of doom , was it a way out ? . No , that just wasn't possible , not after all this , and besides unless it led to some stairs I would still be underground , gripping the cut crystal handle I took three or four deep breaths , like a new soon to be mamma getting ready to push .

The door swung open with ease , not even a creak

Inside was a sumptuous looking bathroom suite that would have taken me at least at a conservative estimate four years to earn enough to pay for . Top quality all round , off white cream ceramic bathtub plus washbasin with a Spanish tile floor , as soon as I stepped on it I knew it was heated , the sudden rush of warmth almost made me jump

Just behind the door was a toilet and Jesus H , a bidet with gold fittings , I did not think I had ever been this close to a bidet before , I only knew what it was from films .

The en suite was the same as the bedroom , decent sized and furnished with what appeared to be a bottomless budget , along the far tiled wall there was a glass shelving unit that just sort of hung there In an elegant magic trick , I couldn't even see how it was attached . On the three shelves were just about every type of soap and cream and moisturiser you could imagine , make up bags filled with everything a girl would need for a Saturday night on the town , combs brushes , basically imagine the hair and beauty isle in any major department store and this was it in microcosm

And do you know what , to top it all off on the very top shelf at the end nearest the bath tub , I shit you not

Was a rubber duck , a little plastic rubber ducky with a bright red beak

I couldn't stop it , it was like a torrent , I started laughing and howling like a mad women , if I had seen me in the street acting like I was now I would have crossed over the road pronto .

Tears streamed my face and it must have taken about a good ten minutes before the chuckling stopped and now I was just crying again , please god , don't let me go crazy now , not now I thought

I needed to sit down again before I fell down , and as nice as the terracotta colour tiles were with their seeping heat , I knew they would not be as comfortable as the shag carpet to fall on

I picked up the stack of criminally fluffy towels off the closed toilet seat and unceremoniously plonked myself down on the throne

From my porcelain easy chair I finished my inspection and took some finer details , all the products on the shelves were new , I could see many items were still in there packaging , a few toothbrushes occupied a stand on the middle shelf and they were all still in there neat little plastic cases ,next to them was what I gathered was an electric tooth brush complete with base station with LED readout , it looked like something out of star trek to me .

What the hell was going on ? . Did Vampires need all this stuff , did they brush their teeth , fangs or whatever ? .

I allowed me eyes to keep wandering till they zeroed in on the spotless gold tap and fixtures on the generous sized bath tub , a clouded style shower partition Concertinaed out of the wall , it was half way pulled but I could see you could extended it all the way out when you took a shower , a shower , gods a shower would be nice .

I lifted my arm to smell myself and no word of a lie I actually balked from my own body odour , I smelled like crap , no scratch that , that was an insult to crap , I smelt even worse

Vomit and sweat and oh god urine all vied for most disgusting Sookie scent , I felt a sticky sheen down both my legs and realised with unbelievable shame that at some point I had wet myself , I wasn't even aware I had done it , maybe in my cell back in the hell hole I'm not sure , but I had .

My minging hospital gown had soaked up all these delightful body secretions and now I had become aware of them they smelt noxious to me , and on top of everything I still bore a healthy dose of stinging disinfectant , the resulting mix was rank beyond words .

My mind was made up , I know it sounds stupid given the situation I was in but when you boiled it down I was after all a women , and a women can put up with a lot of shit , they have to , but stinking like goat feces is not one of them .

To try and still that nagging voice in the back of my head I quickly ventured back out into the bedroom and approached one side of the bed

It took a lot of effort and I grunted like a pig to do it but after a few minutes I had managed to drag one of the bedside cabinets to force up against the door I was led in through , I wasn't kidding myself that it would keep a hungry vampire out but it would give me precious warning and if nothing else it made me feel better about getting naked .

Back in the bathroom I shucked of the putrid hospital gown and tossed it into a corner in disgust , I wasn't going to pick up after myself , id spent my entire life being clean but I would be damned if I was going to tidy up the bathroom of my killer .

I placed a towel down on the floor so I could get out of the shower once done without cracking my head open , pulling the partition out I stepped in and fiddled with the nobs until the spray started , testing it with my hand to access the temperature first , I stepped under the jet

Now if I was a poet , some Dickensian poet or a reader of maybe Shakespeare or T.S Elliot , I may have been able to string together some eloquent and powerful discourse , to try and describe just how good that shower felt

But I'm not , so let's just say if you wrapped up every orgasm I've ever had , and there haven't been that many mores the pity , along with every first bite of still oven warm homemade apple pie with cinnamon dusting still settling on the crusty moist pastry , and then threw in every first sip of icy sweet tea on a hot summers day after working up an honest sweat in the garden .

You would still only be half way to getting just how good it felt

I had harvested a crop of different soaps and shampoo's and shower gels before getting in and put them within easy reach , after spending a few minutes just standing under that delicious hot spray I began to scrub and lather and wipe every square inch of flesh right down to the balls of my feet .

I snagged my god damn ear tag a few times but even that pain would not rob of the first moment of shear solace I've had in two long days and nights

I didn't stop until I was just about a prune , after I got out I smeared on a generous coating of coca body butter and rubbed it in slow and steady , the smell was heavenly .

I felt so soft and smelled so good I was actually getting off on it a bit

I had been about to wrap a towel around me when I spied the fluffy bathrobe hanging on the back of the door , fingering it I confirmed it seemed to be made of the same fuzzy and ridiculously soft material the towels were crafted from , it would be huge on me probably dragging after me as I went but that just kind of increased its appeal .

When I slipped it on over my shoulder I damn well near had another golden moment , kittens aren't this soft

Shuffling back out into the bedroom I was sort of a little high I think , but what I saw brought me crashing back down .

The bedside table had been replaced to its former position and sitting on the bed was a covered tray

How it had managed to get in , move the cabinet back , deliver the tray and then get out again was a mystery to me , I didn't know whether to be impressed or horrified , so I settled on being a little bit of both .

Approaching the bed with a quivering gait , I eyed the silver domed covered tray with anxious concern , what was it ? . Some new horrible thing I would have to deal with

Swallowing the lump in my throat I griped the domes top handle and pinched my face in an expression of foreboding , I'm not sure what I thought would happen , maybe a rabid weasel would pop out and go for my throat or something .

I decided quick was best , like a band aid . I whisked the lid away and I swear I actually used it for a shield for a second , but I needn't have bothered , when the smell hit me , it felt like my stomach that had long been dormant with the terrors of the last 48 hrs. , erupted into life with a roar that would have put Krakatoa to shame

Steam rose in little tendrils from a tender succulent looking steak , it was rare I could tell as a little blood had mixed in with the pepper sauce , on the side was a baked potato with sour cream and butter still melting in dollops , next to that were sautéed green beans garnished with shallots.

I never knew why I reacted like I did , and I still don't

I started to cry

Not the hot stinging fearful , shameful , hopeless tears of late but just honest to goodness happy tears the likes of which I can't put into words , maybe you've had a similar experience maybe not but if you haven't I just can't verbalise it , and you wouldn't understand anyway .

Then I almost dived onto the tray , I cut jagged pieces of meat off quickly and nearly rabidly , I smeared Sour cream on them before shoving them in my mouth with all the grace and finesse of the Cookie monster , I spotted the can of diet coke and cracked that open , glugging it down the coke had to wash passed the still masticating food in my mouth , the tastes all mixed together but I just didn't care , my body had given the green light and it was go ,go ,go .

I don't think I would have been physically able to stop even if I had a mind to even try , which I didn't

I mixed and matched different combo's to go with the meat but no one food went into my mouth alone , soon and what must have been some sort of record I was scrapping the plate with the side of my fork and popping the juice in my mouth before it dripped off , I slugged the last of the Coke and I was done , I was taken by surprise by the not so lady like belch that slipped out before I could feel it coming , I also couldn't contain the giggle as my hand shot to my mouth as if I could stop the gastric eruption with the tips of my fingers .

I felt like a bloated mamma possum but in the best possible way , I was suddenly glad I wasn't wearing anything under the robe as I'm sure it would have been uncomfortably tight

Sated as I was , I now had the wits I suppose to actually look with greater attention at the tray , next to the little salt and pepper pots something shiny and metallic glinted in the light , I frowned as I picked up a brand new looking pair of needle nose pliers , on the tip however unlike other pliers of this sort I had seen was almost like a levered cutting edge , did Vampires think that humans would use these to eat , it looked like it belonged on a dentist tray

The other shoe dropped

I picked up the tray and moved it over to one of the bed side cabinets and scurried back into the bathroom , wiping the mirror free of steamy water I cocked my head to look at the ugly yellow tag that hung there , I could for the first time see it had letters as well as the barcode I knew it had

P.S

'' Prime stock '' I mumbled to myself , my eyes narrowed and righteous indignation boiled up in me , lifting the plier device to my head I carefully got in-between my ear and the metal bar that had been shoved through my poor lobe .

**SNIP**

I'm not going to say it was painless but when the tag fell into the sink with a clatter the sense of relief was almost palatable , I gently massaged the hole it had left and let out a little sigh , God that felt nice.

A quick inspection of one of the shelf units turned up a little antiseptic cream and even better a box of water proof plasters , I made quick work of my first aid and then shuffled back to the bedroom , I think all that food and the fluffy gown plus just how exhausted I was all kind of ganged up on me at the same time , I barely made it to the bed and crawled under the cover still wearing the robe

I had told myself before sleep wasn't an option but now it had shifted gears on me , not sleeping wasn't an option now , I felt my eyes flutter closed with a mind of their own and I was out for the count


End file.
